HUNTED-Chapter 365: Aftermath

It was hard to breathe.

Fur covered her vision and stuck to her lips as a heavy weight crushed her chest inwards. Aila’s bones felt splintered, and her head hurt from the fall, making her mind a little foggy. That was until she smelt fresh blood above her, and she realised what had happened.

The sounds of a gunshot, the werewolf who pushed her out of the way, taking the brunt of it. As she realised the werewolf was still on top of her, he was lifted by Finn and Damon. Her Delta managed to put a shirt around his lower region.

Aila slid out from the body and moved to inspect the werewolf, gasping at who took a bullet to the head for her.

"Darren?!" To say she was shocked was an understatement. It wasn’t only shocking because the ex-Delta who despised her tried to save her life, but because the bullet lodged scraped past the side of his head, ripping his ear in half.

Darren was still breathing. But barely. Other bullets from earlier fighting were lodged into his chest. Aila swallowed past the lump in her throat, and tears swelled in her eyes.

"Darren.." She whispered, kneeling beside him, her hand over her mouth, then cleared her throat. "Darren, you ass.. You’re not allowed to die on us. Your work in the pack is not finished."

Aila looked up at Damon and Finn and at their surroundings. It looked like these ’hunters’ had fled or were left dead. She pursed her lips at seeing two other werewolves lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood, also dead.

Damon stepped forwards, his hand reaching out to her as his eyes glazed over. He connected them all into the pack mind-link. "There has been an attack in Silver Thorne. Return to your homes immediately. Medics come straight away. Some of the injured are critical." He then pulled the pack leaders into a mind-link.

"Kane, Chiara, I need you to round the warriors up. We are expanding the patrols to Silver Thorne. Return to the packhouse after everything has been sorted."

Aila continued to watch Darren. His breathing was slow, and he looked like nothing more than an overly large wolf sleeping, but the blood and injuries told another story. She lowered herself beside him again, inspecting each wound. None were in any vital organs though the silver was working its magic and making sure his injuries would not heal.

"Aila?" Damon sounded unsure, but she continued to grow her claws. It wasn’t exactly like the instruments she’d been trained with, but she had used her nails once before to pull out Damon’s bullets.

There was just one bullet a little too close to Darren’s heart that Aila was worried about. She never thought she’d ever worry about the ex-Delta. But as it were, he was still a part of the Silver Crescent pack.

Aila was either an idiot for feeling so worried over this guy, or it was a Luna thing, but even if there were a few she didn’t really like in the pack, like those who thought themselves too high and mighty, she would never want for them to be in danger. They were her pack, and she protected the pack as much as the Alpha. It was in her blood, whether it was mixed with vampire blood or not.

Aila focused as she rummaged through Darren’s chest, widening the wound so she could grab the bullet better. Once she located it, she discarded it immediately, hissing as she did so to the silver burning her fingertips. Malia whined at the silver touching them, making Aila’s eyes flash momentarily.

"That’s better," Aila murmured, accepting Finn’s shirt to wipe her hands, then made a face realising where he got the shirt from and handed it pack with as little grip as possible between her claws.

Finn chuckled and wrapped it back around his waist. "Humans are safe, and it sounds like an ambulance and police are on the way," the Delta explained.

Aila nodded, finding it strange that the ’outside world’ was now aware and dealing with these matters. Though they wouldn’t know how to deal with all this, at least they can get the humans to the hospital.

"Good work." Damon patted Finn on the back before his attention moved to the van across the road.

"Not good enough," Finn muttered, his eyes turning to those that had fallen.

"Hey.. This is a better outcome than it could have been." Damon gripped his shoulder. "I should have known we’d need more than you and Darren to go out with all this uncertainty. Thanks to you, these.. people have been dealt with quickly."

Aila nodded at that. They were not aware of the extra security detail. Finn probably didn’t want them to feel as though they were being watched completely on their date. But looking around, she realised this would be their life from now on.

Hopefully, not the injured civilians and werewolves but having more security following them, even to the town closest to them. Damon had already come up with the idea that the town needed protecting as much as their overly large estate. At least, the pack was large and full of many strong warriors.

A small commotion at the other side of the street had the pack leaders turn their attention to a van. It was rocking from side to side, and the sounds of grunts and growls came from it.

"Alpha, Luna. We found one." A mind-link came through from one of the warriors.

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Aila and Damon shared a look before she glanced at Darren.

"I’ll get someone to stay with him," Finn said after seeing the Luna’s worry. Aila nodded, knowing Finn wouldn’t leave them even now everything was over but would help ease his Luna’s worries.

Not long after that, Finn caught up to Damon and Aila, who were starting to make their way to where some of the warriors were surrounding a van. Upon arriving, Aila noted one of the werewolves yanking out an arrow from his chest and hissing, glaring at the silver arrowhead.

This man managed to get two shots from a crossbow out before surrendering. Aila’s blood lust surfaced from the idea that the sick individual was in a nearby van, live streaming what they were doing to the werewolves.

She stood just outside the open van doors, eyes going from the man pinned to the ground, who looked to be in his forties, to the monitors and the weapons. It looked like their streaming session had come to an end, but it still made her fangs elongate, the need for violence pulling out her claws to maim this man.

Fingers slid into her own, and she looked down at the large hand clasping hers and up to her mate.

Damon squeezed it gently, and Aila calmed slightly. The need to enact revenge was strong, though, but maiming him was a little premature. They needed to know who they were. They were dressed like hunters, but they couldn’t be.

Aila trusted Chase and knew this had nothing to do with him. The guy wouldn’t help their kind in the attack against Cassius and his vampires if that were the case. If this was anyone else, though, she would believe he was trying to gain her trust to commit such acts.

"What is your name?" Aila asked, then arched an eyebrow as the man glared at her. She didn’t need to say anything before the warrior whose trainer was pressing into his head cocked the crossbow into the ’hunter’s’ nose. He grunted as blood spurted out, leaving him to groan and squeeze his eyes shut.

Aila looked on, arms now crossed, eyebrow arched, waiting expectantly.

"A-Allen. You filthy who-" Another kick to the face knocked him out. This time it was Damon who kicked him, his eyes flashing brightly, claws growing out of his hands. His body was shaking like he was trying to control himself.

"Nobody calls his mate a whore," Malia growled as she, too, watched the hunter on the ground in disdain.

"Damn straight," Damon’s voice whipped through her mind, delighting her wolf that he responded to her. He turned away from the man as Aila past him and to the men still in the van.

"Take him to the basement," Aila ordered to no one in particular, knowing this man would be dealt with.